Niki Tsongas: “During this Congress, we have seen numerous bills that would reverse decades of progress for women's health. Today we…”

“During this Congress, we have seen numerous bills that would reverse decades of progress for women's health. Today we take our ninth such floor vote. We have seen H.R. 358, which permits hospitals and hospital workers to choose to deny women care that would save their lives, putting ideology above all. We have seen H.R. 3, a bill that would cause insurers to start refusing to cover a legal and safe procedure. We have seen bills that would restrict women's access to preventive care, and efforts to eliminate all funding for the only Federal program dedicated to providing comprehensive family planning services. At home, our constituents are pleading for us to focus on job creation, but here we are again today about to debate H.R. 3541, yet another ideologically driven bill that intrudes on the relationship between a woman and her doctor. In particular, this bill puts doctors in situations where they would be forced to report confidential conversations with women to law enforcement. Let's reject H.R. 3541 and start looking at bills that can solve problems for women. ____________________”